Bay Area Hacker's Association / Bay Area Security Enthusiasts

Calendar

A Clarification on the Term "Hacker"

I probably don't have to point this out to the digerati, but for all
those potential employers out there, we don't consider "hacker" to
mean "criminal". We welcome all who seek knowledge about computer
security, whether offensive or defensive, white or black hat, or
anything in between.

Well, today we have to look at these hackers and see that even though
they do some malicious things, they have a knowledge that's extremely
important to our security, to our safety, and to our ability to
confront terror. I think government's real challenge right now is to
bring them on the inside to help train our own information specialists
to work to track terrorist organizations. Frankly, we could own all
the master hackers in our country for half the price of an advanced
fighter jet. So we're not talking about much cost; we need to recruit
these people, we need to use them, they're Americans too, they're
patriots too - they can help win this war on terror. They count more
than a carrier battle group, quite frankly.
-- John Arquilla, author of Networks and Netwars

Hacker Spaces

Charter

I created this group to give those interested in learning and teaching
about security topics a forum to do so. This is mostly about
computer, application, network security and cryptology, but I don't
see a reason to strictly limit discussion to those topics. For
example, there may be widespread interest in anonymity, privacy,
relevant legislation, physical security, locksport, and so on.

Philosophy

I encourage everyone to exercise their own ethical judgements on what
they want to disclose and discuss. I do not presume to make those
choices for others.

I also want to encourage everyone to avoid an "elitist" attitude,
recognizing that we were all noobs once. What is important is not how
much you know, but how eager you are to learn, and share what you
know. Enthusiasm counts a lot.

After
reading A
Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy, I've realized that some kind of
order may be necessary to maintain the utility of the group. However,
I also want to strongly encourage participation and a sense of
belonging, so I want to avoid intervention as much as possible.

Security experts tend to be very smart, but very cynical. Try to
remain polite.